[faluut42]

I have a mare that I recently took off Regumate to see if she could do without. She turned back into her grumby, tense self again. Her poop is getting runny, she is stall walking again, and forget about having a quiet ride. So I think its time to put her back on some kind of treatment that keeps her more comfortable.

I could put her back on regumate but i dont want to personally handle it and constantly being on Regumate cant be that great for my mare. Which is why I am curious about the marble.

If I do need her put her back on hormones I wanted to try the shot so I dont have to touch it. My vet doesnt really like the shot so he doesnt use it. However he is not the one handling the regumate every day.

I have been researching the different options but still have a few questions I couldnt find in other threads.

1. How much does a marble procedure cost?
2. What have been peoples experiences with the marble vs Regumate (does it have the same relaxing effect)?
3. Does anyone have any new reports on the IM Regumate shot (altrenogest im)?
4. How does the regumate shot compare to regular regumate?
5. Altrenogest IM is a im shot so if the vet prescribed it to me, can i give it? And where is the shot normally given?

[katyb]

My mare, Jet, has been marbled for three years. It cost about $100, including ultrasounds, sedation, and insertion at the University of TN vet school. Jet hasn't cycled at all since it was inserted. I would just advise you to have it done somewhere that has done it a lot with good success. My local vet isn't having good luck with marbling, while UT has a good success rate (retention and effectiveness). I haven't tried anything else. Jet wasn't nearly bad enough for me to be willing to do something like regumate. She just cycled very frequently and was very preoccupied when she was in heat.

I've been told I can leave the marble in as long as it is working, but at the five year mark, I'll probably take it out, see how she does, and put another in if necessary. My IUD is limited to five years, so that seems reasonable to me. I know some people replace the marble every year, but I was told that just increased the risk of infection or the marble being expelled and was unnecessary if it was still working.

[cleozowner]

My previous mare had a marble put in...didn't really work. It's still in there, though, several years later (we were unable to remove it, and there were no ill effects, so we left it in). I ended up spaying the mare.

[jherold]

Just have her spayed. In the long run, it will be much cheaper! They do it through a small flank incision and just remove the overies. Check it out. It's not nearly as expensive as I would have thought. (I asked Mich. State for a quote last year and I think it was only a couple of thousand dollars. You'll easily go through that in vet bills or drugs in the next few years).

[Hilary]

I have a secondary question then - do the changes that the added hormones bring out come because you are ADDING hormones, or because you are forcing their cycle to stop? I thought one of the reasons regumate and injected hormones worked was that you were artificially upping some of the hormones which therefore supressed others. If you just supress, (marbling) do you get the same benefit? Does the mare then increase the other hormones, thereby giving you the same effect?

I don't know that spaying would work because then she'll have no hormones and some of the hormones do make the mares mellow and happy.

Spaying works to remove serious heat cycle problems -my mare has barely recognizable heats but I'm thinking of putting her on regumate because of the overall effect of making them more mellow and relaxed.

[faluut42]

Does the marble have the same calming effect as regumate? I don't want to spay her, can't really give you reasons why. The idea just doesn't appeal to me.

Has anyone tried the shot vs liquid regumate?

[hollyhorse2000]

Regumate works the same way the human birth control pill does -- by fooling the body into thinking you're pregnant, so periods stop. The marble does the same thing -- the body sees the foreign object as an embryo and that stops the heat cycles. Whether or not either of these will "calm" a mare is entirely dependent on the personality of the mare. Some will no longer have PMS-related grumps and they will be nicer to be around. But some might still be less-than-calm.

I personally wouldn't use Regumate for make a horse more relaxed. I'd look for other substances, including Easy Mare herbs, other calming supplements or even make sure the horse doesn't have ulcers . . .

I can't imagine spaying a mare unless she is downright dangerous. Different strokes, I guess . . .

[bhebert19]

I have used both liquid Regu-mate and the IM shot... they work very much the same... If your vet will write you a prescription you can get it direct from BET Pharmacy .... I liked the shot but have found surprisingly the liquid to be easier! (I bought the dosing gun - works great) I gave the shot in the hamstring. Its a lot of medication and although she never had a reaction (I used the 30 day which is water based) she started acting up getting shots so after I gave my mare time off from the hormones and then started her back up on Regu-mate. Hope that helps... Let me know if you have any other questions about either the shot or liquid... Otherwise your vet is always a good person to talk to... I never tried the marble and don't think I ever would; the success rate according to studies I have read has not been very high... I know my vets have never suggested it as a option to me either...